Mountains and Molehills

Chapter 3

It was the third day at V.I.L.E academy.

Antonio had already graduated high school years ago. It was a horrible experience, and the more time he spent at the school for thieves, the more of it reminded him about the routine boredom that comes with school.

It was certainly less boring with all the opportunities to  explore and engage in heart racing class activities, but it was starting to get a bit too repetitive.

Just like the previous day Antonio was awoken by an overeager Jean-Paul. 

"You don't like it when I'm asleep, do you?" Antonio grumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

"You'd better expect this everyday, mon ami," Jean-Paul grunted with a frown, "until you learn to wake up by yourself.  I can't be left alone with the other people in this infernal institution."

"What's wrong with them?" Antonio asked.

"Do you want the list?"

Antonio decided it wasn't worth his energy pressing on. But Jean-Paul seemed to hate everyone on the island. 

Antonio shook his head.

They shuffled over to Countess Cleo's classroom where they were to learn Criminal Etiquette.

Antonio had been made to do etiquette classes from before he joined the V.I.L.E Program, or something of the sort. He hated those, being told how to behave was something he never enjoyed, so he was anxious about Criminal Etiquette. Whatever that could mean.

Inside the room were many tall curtained windows. The entire place was decorated with several  supposedly stolen paintings. Standing before them was their teacher, Countess Cleo dressed in a long, ruffled emerald-green  dress. Her makeup-contoured face was kept in a strict expression as she scanned the room. 

"I'm sure you all know what a replica is," she began, without even bothering to introduce herself, "A copy. A fake version of the real thing. Your objective in this class is to learn how to tell the difference between the real thing and a fake, and how to make your own believable copies."

"Pop quiz!" She announced.

Countless Cleo placed two vases before the class on a desk at the front. Both vases looked exactly alike. From the shape, the size, down to the tiniest flecks of color on the glazed surfaces. The two vases were decorated with identical blue-and-white flowers that wrapped around the sides.

"One of these two vases is real, valued at over three hundred thousand dollars, while is the is discount flee market garbage. Your task is to figure out which one of these you should steal." 

Antonio darted his eyes back and forth between the two vases. He had absolutely no idea which could be the fake one. Looking around the class, he noticed that nobody else had any idea which one to pick, until Sheena raised her hand.

"Ooh, I know!" She squealed as as she waved her hand in the air.

Ms Cleo called her to the front of class where she made her way to by a series of hand springs. She sprung her way to the desk on which the vases were placed and grabbed the one on the right, bumping into the desk. The other vase smashed onto the ground and shattered into a hundred pieces that scattered all over the floor.

"Unfortunately, you'd be wrong," the Countess said, disappointed. 

Black Sheep snickered, "She was so sure of herself!" And just like that, the whole class erupted into laughter.